Naomi Osaka Loses First Match as No. 1 in Dubai
(February 19 2019) Playing her first match since winning the Australian Open and her first as the world No. 1, Naomi Osaka was beaten 6-3 6-3 by France’s Kristina Mladenovic at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Tuesday.
“I thought I played pretty bad,” said Osaka, while also admitting that she is not accustomed to being in the spotlight and is having trouble in dealing with that.. “I mean, there are days that you have like that, and you just have to find a way to, like, win no matter what the situation is. I haven’t been practicing well recently. I just thought, like, it would go away during the matches. I was kind of counting on that. That didn’t happen.”
Their only previous meeting was in the first round in Dubai a year ago, and Osaka won easily on her way to the quarter-finals.
“She just overpowered me (then). I think I was not ready. My main focus today was really to return well,” said Mladenovic. “For sure it means a lot. At the moment, there’s a reason why she’s the best player in the world. I’m really proud how I stay composed. At the end it’s not easy to close it out. It’s not easy to play with that pressure.”
Defending champion and sixth seed Elina Svitolina advanced when Tunisian star Ons Jabeur was forced to retire. Svitolina was leading 7-6, 4-0.
She then acknowledged that she has extra incentive to succeed this week as she attempts to become the first WTA player to win the tournament for three consecutive years.
“Well, this is a big motivation for me here,” Svitolina said. “Today I didn’t really feel like in a match mood. I don’t know why. Was a bit struggling. (But) when I was 0-2 down, I told myself, ‘C’mon, you are here to make history of the tournament’.”
Second seed Petra Kvitova needed two hours 34 minutes to overcome the challenge of fellow Czech Katerina Siniakova, eventually pulling through 6-7 6-4, 6-4, and third seed Simona Halep, fourth seed Karolina Pliskova and fifth seed Angelique Kerber all advanced.
Halep beat Eugenie Bouchard 7-6, 6-4 and claim her 200th main draw victory, Pliskova came through a rain-delayed match with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Dominika Cibulkova and Kerber recovered from 1-5 in the first set to beat Dalila Jakupovic 7-6 6-3. Garbine Muguruza defeated Saisai Zheng 7-5 6-2, but 2018 runner-up Daria Kasatkina was defeated 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 by Sofia Kenin, and seventh seed Kiki Bertens fell 6-2 4-6 7-6 to Viktoria Kuzmova after holding a match point in the tiebreak. Fourteenth seed Caroline Garcia lost 6-4, 7-5 to qualifier Jennifer Brady.
Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships
February 17-23, 2019
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
$2,828,000
RESULTS – FEBRUARY 19, 2019
Singles – Second Round
K. Mladenovic (FRA) d [1] N. Osaka (JPN) 63 63
[2] P. Kvitova (CZE) d K. Siniakova (CZE) 67(3) 64 64
[3] S. Halep (ROU) d [WC] E. Bouchard (CAN) 76(4) 64
[4] Ka. Pliskova (CZE) d D. Cibulkova (SVK) 62 36 63
[5] A. Kerber (GER) d [LL] D. Jakupovic (SLO) 76(4) 63
[6] E. Svitolina (UKR) d O. Jabeur (TUN) 76(4) 40 ret. (right shoulder injury)
V. Kuzmova (SVK) d [7] K. Bertens (NED) 62 46 76(6) – saved one match point
[8] A. Sabalenka (BLR) d [Q] I. Jorovic (SRB) 64 60
S. Kenin (USA) d [11] D. Kasatkina (RUS) 63 26 64
[12] G. Muguruza (ESP) d S. Zheng (CHN) 75 62
[Q] J. Brady (USA) d [14] C. Garcia (FRA) 64 75
C. Suárez Navarro (ESP) d S. Zhang (CHN) 64 64
L. Tsurenko (UKR) d [Q] L. Zhu (CHN) 64 67(5) 63
B. Bencic (SUI) d [LL] S. Voegele (SUI) 61 61
S. Hsieh (TPE) d A. Sasnovich (BLR) 61 62
A. Riske (USA) d A. Cornet (FRA) 62 63
Doubles – Second Round
D. Jurak (CRO) / R. Olaru (ROU) d [2] N. Melichar (USA) / K. Peschke (CZE) 76(6) 76(3)
[3] S. Hsieh (TPE) / B. Strycova (CZE) d M. Kato (JPN) / M. Ninomiya (JPN) 63 62
[4] G. Dabrowski (CAN) / Y. Xu (CHN) d [WC] S. Grey (GBR) / E. Silva (GBR) 61 63
[7] L. Hradecka (CZE) / E. Makarova (RUS) d O. Jabeur (TUN) / A. Riske (USA) w/o (Jabeur: right shoulder injury)
ORDER OF PLAY – WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2019
CENTRE COURT start 11:00 am
[Q] J. Brady (USA) vs [2] P. Kvitova (CZE)
[3] S. Halep (ROU) vs L. Tsurenko (UKR)
K. Mladenovic (FRA) vs C. Suárez Navarro (ESP)
A. Riske (USA) vs [4] Ka. Pliskova (CZE)
Not Before 7:00 pm
[12] G. Muguruza (ESP) vs [6] E. Svitolina (UKR)
B. Bencic (SUI) vs [8] A. Sabalenka (BLR)
COURT 1 start 12:00 noon
V. Kuzmova (SVK) vs S. Kenin (USA)
[5] A. Kerber (GER) vs S. Hsieh (TPE)
[9] H. Chan (TPE) / L. Chan (TPE) vs V. Kuzmova (SVK) / A. Tomljanovic (AUS)
[8] A. Groenefeld (GER) / D. Schuurs (NED) vs I. Bara (ROU) / D. Jakupovic (SLO)
COURT 3 start Not Before 3:00 pm
[1] T. Babos (HUN) / K. Mladenovic (FRA) vs L. Arruabarrena (ESP) / K. Christian (USA)
